Cold Atmospheric-Pressure Plasmas for Surface Treatment, Food Processing and Semiconductor Etching
This research community develops and characterizes low-temperature plasma discharges to modify material surfaces, process food products, and etch microelectronics. The work focuses on generating reactive species at atmospheric pressure to achieve specific chemical or physical changes without heating the bulk material.
The recurring technical core involves dielectric barrier discharges, plasma jets, and inductively or capacitively coupled plasmas. These systems are primarily used for surface modification of polymers and metals, reactive ion etching for microfabrication, and the generation of plasma-activated water. Applications span the removal of contaminants from water, the extension of shelf life and safety of food products, and the precise shaping of silicon and other substrates. The research heavily utilizes argon, helium, and nitrogen as working gases, with a strong emphasis on the physicochemical properties of the resulting reactive species and their interaction with target materials.
The community is most heavily concentrated in argon research, accounting for 9.7% of all tracked argon papers, and xenon research, where it represents 6.0% of the total. It also holds a significant share of helium research at 4.7%. Argon is both the element with the highest paper count within this group and the one with the largest proportional share of its total research output.
The group comprises 45,203 papers, published predominantly in Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Journal of Applied Physics, and Physics of Plasmas. Recent work continues to focus on the application of cold plasma for antimicrobial control in food systems, the simulation of dielectric barrier discharge dynamics, and the use of plasma-activated water for agricultural and environmental applications.